Aerosol valve with flexible housing

ABSTRACT

An aerosol dispenser valve comprising a housing forming a chamber in which is disposed a valve member. The valve member is movable, as by pressure exerted thereon by an operator, against a portion of the housing and operates to deform the housing portion to permit flow through the valve. Upon release by the operator, the housing portion returns to its original form, moving the valve member back into a valve-closing position.

United States Patent I MN Inventor Milo E. Webster Bralntree, Mass. Appl. No. 882,485 Filed Dec. 5, I969 Patented Nov. l6, l97l Assignee The Gillette Company Boston, Mass.

AEROSOL VALVE WITH FLEXIBLE HOUSING 4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

521 11.5. CI 222/402.22 [51] Int. Cl B6511 83/00 [50] Field of Search ..222/402.22. 402.24, 402.l. 518; 132/525, 525.]

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,060.965 10/1962 Taggart ZZZ/402.22 X

3,344,961 lO/l967 Graham ZZZ/402.22 3,520,450 7/l970 Prussinetal 222/402.22X

Primary Examiner-Robert B. Reeves Assistant Examiner-Norman L. Stack, .l r.

Almrneys- Philip Colman, Oilstein J. Bratlie. William M.

Anderson and Scott R. Foster ABSTRACT: An aerosol dispenser valve comprising a housing forming a chamber in which is disposed a valve member. The valve member is movable, as by pressure exerted thereon by an operator, against a portion of the housing and operates to deform the housing portion to permit flow through the valve. Upon release by the operator, the housing portion returns to its original form, moving the valve member back into a valveclosing position.

PATENTEDuuv 1s nan 3,620,422

F i g. l.

Fig. 2

4o 18 14 2s 6 8 2o 10 Il\'\'lii\"l'( )R FLg. 13. MILO E. WEBSTER AEROSOL VALVE WITH FLEXIBLE HOUSING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to valves and is directed more particularly to an aerosol dispenser valve.

2. Description of the Prior Art Aerosol dispenser valves presently in use generally include at least one valve member which is spring biased in such a manner as to close the valve. In order to open the valve, an operator moves the valve member against the spring pressure.

Generally, the spring pressure is supplied by a metal wire coil spring included in the valve assembly. The use of the coil spring is objectionable from a valve manufacturing standpoint because of the cost involved in the handling of the spring prior to and during the valve assembling stage and the need for accurately placing the spring in the valve assembly. Further, it has been found that the metal coil spring is attimes deleteriously affected by the material contained in the dispenser, and on still other occasions the material contained is adversely affected by contact with metal.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a valve assembly including a spring-biased valve member, but eliminating the requirement for a wire coil spring. 7

A further object of the invention is to provide an aerosol valve having a spring-biased member within a valve housing, with the spring biasing means being an integral part of the housing, thereby eliminating spring handling and alignment problems.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such a valve in which the spring means is of a material generally not adversely affected by substances which tend to adversely affect metal.

Still a further object is to provide a valve which is relatively noncomplex in structure and easily and inexpensively manufactured.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafier appear, a feature of the present invention is the provision of an aerosol valve assembly comprising a valve member movable between first and second positions in a chamber formed at least in part by a valve housing, and spring means integral with the valve housing and operable to urge the valve member into said first position whereby to prevent flow of'material through the valve, the spring means being yieldable to permit movement of the member to said second position, whereby to permit flow of material through the valve.

The above and other features of the invention, including various novel details of construction and combinations of parts, will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims. It will be understood that the particular device embodying the invention is shown by way of illustration only and not as a limitation of the invention. The principles and features of this invention may be employed in various and numerous embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which is shown an illustrative embodiment of the invention from which its novel features and advantages will be apparent.

FIG. I is an elevational sectional view of one form of aerosol valve illustrative of an embodiment of the invention, the valve being shown in the closed position;

FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. I but shows the valve in an open position; and

FIG. 3 is an elevational sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the invention, the valve being shown in the closed position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, it will be seen that the illustrative valve assembly includes a housing 2 having an inlet tube portion 4 on one side and a recess 6 on another side. A sealing means 8 is disposed adjacent the housing 2 and may be clamped thereto by the configuration of an envelope covering 10 which may comprise a portion of the container 12 in which the present valve assembly is mounted. The sealing means 8 and the housing 2 form a substantially enclosed valve chamber 14.

The sealing means 8 is provided with a central opening I6 which receives a stern portion 18 of a valve member 20. Integral with the stem portion 18 is a valve body portion 22 disposed in the valve chamber 14. The stem portion I8 is provided with an elongated groove 24 which acts as an outlet passage. The stem portion I8 receives thereabout an actuator member 26 which is also received by the opening I6. The actuator member 26 is mounted upon the stem portion 18 so that pressure exerted upon the actuator member 26 causes movement of the valve member 20.

The valve member body portion 22 includes an annular groove 28 separated from communication with the chamber 14 by the engagement of the valve body portion 22 with the sealing means 8. A recess 30 in the actuator member 26 permits communication between the annular groove 28 and the outlet passage 24.

The inlet tube portion 4 of the valve member 20 is provided with an inlet passage 32 interconnecting the chamber I4 and the interior of the container 12. A dip tube 34 may be attached to the inlet tube portion 4 and may extend to, or close to, the bottom (not shown) of the container.

Referring to FIG. 2, it will be seen that the housing 2 includes a deformable wall portion 36 which gives way under pressure exerted against it by the valve member 20. The valve housing 2 is made of a plastic material such that the wall portion 36 is deformable but tends to quickly return to its original configuration. Thus, the wall portion 36 readily deforms under stress, as shown in FIG. 2, but tends to return to its static configuration, as shown in FIG. 1, thereby exercising a spring force upon the valve member 20. r

The valve member body portion 22 is provided with grooves 38 which permit contents of the container to flow freely from the inlet passage 32 to the valve chamber 14.

In operation, the actuator member 26 is tilted or depressed, as by a finger or thumb of an operator (not shown) until the valve member body portion 22 disengages from the sealing means 8. To permit such disengagement, the housing 2 deforms, as shown in FIG. 2. Such disengagement opens communication between the inlet passage 32 and the outlet passage 24, permitting fiow through the valve. Upon release of the actuator member, the resiliency of the valve housing 2 urges the valve member 20 back into engagement with the sealing means 8 to interrupt communication between the chamber 14 and the annular groove 28, whereby to stop flow through the valve.

Referring to FIG. 3, it will be seen that the stem portion I8 may include an axial passage 40 and an orifice 42 interconnecting the passage 40 and the annular groove 28. In this embodiment, an actuator member is not required, it being necessary only to tilt the stem 18 in order to operate the valve, such operation being essentially as described above.

It is to be understood that the present invention is by no means limited to the particular construction herein disclosed and/or shown in the drawings, but also comprises any modifications or equivalents within the scope of the disclosure.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

I. Aerosol valve assembly comprising a valve housing including a resilient substantially planar bottom wall bounded by an uninterrupted annular sidewall upstanding from the periphery of said bottom wall, sealing means disposed on the entire upstanding edge of said sidewall to form a chamber. cover means clamping said sealing means to said sidewall, said sealing means having an opening therethrough, a stem disposed in said opening with a first end extending into said chamber and a second end extending outwardly from the valve assembly, said stem having passage means for placing said chamber in communication with an atmosphere, a valve member fixed to the first end of said stem and being disposed in said chamber, an upper annular portion of said valve member being normally in sealing engagement with said sealing means and lower portions of said valve member being in engagement with said bottom wall, the resiliency of said bottom wall being such that upon application of force applied to said stem, said bottom wall deforms outwardly to permit tilting of said stem and removal of portions of said valve member upper annular portion from said sealing means to place said chamber in communication with said passage means. and upon release of said force returns to a substantially planar configuration, thereby to urge said upper annular valve member portion back into engagement with said sealing means.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which said sidewall is disposed at substantially 90 to said bottom wall.

3. The invention according to claim 2 in which said stem and said valve member comprise a unitary member.

4. The invention according to claim 3 in which said valve housing comprises a unitary member.

' x s i s n 

1. Aerosol valve assembly comprising a valve housing including a resilient substantially planar bottom wall bounded by an uninterrupted annular sidewall upstanding from the periphery of said bottom wall, sealing means disposed on the entire upstanding edge of said sidewall to form a chamber, cover means clamping said sealing means to said sidewall, said sealing means having an opening therethrough, a stem disposed in said opening with a first end extending into said chamber and a second end extending outwardly from the valve assembly, said stem having passage means for placing said chamber in communication with an atmosphere, a valve member fixed to the first end of said stem and being disposed in said chamber, an upper annular portion of said valve member being normally in sealing engagement with said sealing means and lower portions of said valve member being in engagement with said bottom wall, the resiliency of said bottom wall being such that upon application of force applied to said stem, said bottom wall deforms outwardly to permit tilting of said stem and removal of portions of said valve member upper annular portion from said sealing means to place said chamber in communication with said passage means, and upon release of said force returns to a substantially planar configuration, thereby to urge said upper annular valve member portion back into engagement with said sealing means.
 2. The invention according to claim 1 in which said sidewall is disposed at substantially 90* to said bottom wall.
 3. The invention according to claim 2 in which said stem and said valve member comprise a unitary member.
 4. The invention according to claim 3 in which said valve housing comprises a unitary member. 